Process of making storage-battery electrodes.



' H. O. HUBBELL. PROCESS OF MAKING STORAGE BATTERY ELECTRODES.APPLICATION FILED JUNE 8, 1911.

1,087,237, Patented Feb. 17, 1914.

HARRY onoss HUBBELL, 0F NEWARK, NEw; ;EasE'Y.-

raocnss or MAKING sTonAoE-narrrEnY nmic'rnon'ns.

Specification of Letters Patent. Putgnteq Feb, 1 7, 1914 Applicationfiled June 8, 1911. Serial No. 681,900;

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HARRY Cnoss HUB- BELL, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing. at Newark, in the county of Essex and State of NewJersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Processesof Making Storage-Battery Electrodes, of which the following is aspecification.

My present invention relates to animproved storage battery electrodebeing specifically a plate of special construction, consisting of nickelstrips supporting cobalt active material.

In the drawings, Figure 1 shows a plate.

consisting of alternate layers of different metals; and Fig. 2 showsthis plate after it has been cut up into bars 1, as-along the lines 1 ofFig. 1, and after these bars have been rearranged to form a storagebattery plate wherein the layers are disposed edge- Wise to the faces 2and. 3 of the plate, that is, in Fig. 2 the surfaces 4-4: are placed inabutment.

I will now describe my improved electrode-plate and the process for itsmanufacture, reserving it to the claims to point out the novel featuresand to define the scope of the invention, it being understood that theclaims will be interpreted to have the due range of equivalents to whichthey may be entitled in View of the art.

I start with a sheet made up in any preferred manner of alternate layersof copper, cobalt and nickel, the succession of the layers being copper,cobalt, nickel, cobalt, copper, cobalt, nickel, cobalt, copper, etc. Theindividual layers are preferably of film-like thickness. An obvious wayof making the sheet will be by successive electrodepositions of themetals until the desired aggregate thickness for the sheet is reached. Ithen cut up this sheet intobars which I arrange side by side'in theshape of the finished electrode-plate,w'ith the layers of the barsdirected edgewise to the faces of said plate. Each set of ends of thebars are then integrally united, preferably by fusing them with anoxyhydrogen or acetylene flame so that each set of ends are in perfectelectrical connection along the side edges of the plate.

Another method of uniting the bars is by binding them together in asurrounding frame of a suitable metal, such as nickel. Here again,however, the ends of the bars are preferably fused to said frame toinsure perfect electrical connection. A convenient size for theelectrode-plate is about one inch by five inches by three-sixteenths ofaninch thick X The mechanical features of obtaining the so-called barsfrom the sheet and their assembling into a plate with theirlayersdisposed .edgewisc, to the faces are the same as illustrated in thedrawings and in my copending United, States application, Serial No.631,271 filed June 5, 1-913. Next I dissolve out the copper layers andprefer to do this by making the plate an anode in an 'clectrolyte'madeup of, sodium acetate and ammonium acetate to which ammonia iscontinually added, so that there is always free a1n1nonia.- The strengthof the electrolyte may vary but I have found that a concentration of 5to 10B. degrees is suitable with a use of equal proportions of thesodium ace-v tate and ammonia acetate ingredients. The

currentdensity should be keptlow enough so that the cobalt and nickelare not attacked. The result is that the copper layers are dissolvedoutof the plate and this operation is completed when the electrolyteceases to turn blue in a half hour or so after the addition of ammonia.The plate: is now washed with hot water to get rid of'salts. The cobaltlayers are then oxidized to convert them into cobalt active material,which may conveniently be described as consisting 1 of cobalt oxygencompounds whether including oxids or hydroxide or combinations of these.

The conversion of the cobalt, I prefer to -accomplish by using the plateas an anode in a dilute solution of phenol containing a percentage ofalkaline phenolate. In this way I oxidize the cobalt layers which itwill be noted cover both sides of the nickel layers. This is effectedwith relative case because the cobalt is so much easier to oxidize thanthe nickel, with the result that the formed plate consists of cobaltactive material supported by nickel conducting strips.

Instead of oxidizing the cobalt in the described electrolyte I mayinstead use a dilute alkaline solution of sodium chlorid, sulfate ornitrate, as well'as possibly other electrolytes. After washing the plateit is preferably put into the usual containing pocket to finish theelectrode.

Instead of using copper layers as above, I may substitute therefor someother material having the relative solubility of copper, such ascadmium, with appropriatemodifications in the process for subsequentlyremoving the cadmium.

The finished electrode-plate in its preferred form consists of numerousthin nickel strips of film-like thinness arranged in close face to faceparallelism disposed edgewise to the superficies of the plate andsupporting the intermediate films of active material, consisting ofcobalt oxygen compounds.

What I claim is:

1. The process of making storage battery electrodes which comprisesuniting into a plate alternate layers of nickel, cobalt, and a metalhaving copper-like solubility, the succession of the layers being thecopperlike metal, cobalt, nickel, cobalt, and the copper-like metal,said layers being disposed edgewise to the faces of the plate;dissolving out the copper layers; and oxidizing the cobalt layers.

2. The processof making storage battery electrodes which comprisesuniting into a plate alternate layers of nickel, cobalt, and a metalhaving copper-like solubility, the succession of the layers being thecopperlike metal, cobalt, nickel, cobalt, and the copper-like metal,said layers being disposed edgewise to the faces of the plate;dissolving out the copper layers by electrolytic oxidation in thepresence of free ammonia; electrolytically oxidizing the cobalt layers.r

3. The process of making storage battery electrodes Which comprisesuniting into a plate alternate layers of nickel, cobalt, and

the plate as an anode in a sodium acetate and ammonium acetate solutioncontaining free ammonia at a current density sufliciently lOW so as notto attack the cobalt; and oxidizing the cobalt.

4. The process of making storage battery electrodes which comprisesuniting into a plate alternate layers of nickel, cobalt, and a metalhaving copper-like solubility, the succession of the layers being thecopperlike metal, cobalt, nickel, cobalt, and the copper-like metal,said layers being disposed edgewise to the faces of the plate;dissolving out the copper layers by using the plate as an anode in asodium acetate and ammonium acetate solution containing free ammonia ata current density sufiiciently low so as not to attack the cobalt; andoxidizing the cobalt by using the plate as an anode in a dilute solutionof )henol and fixed alkali using a low density forming current.

In testimony whereof I have affixed my signature inpresence of twoWitnesses.

HARRY cnoss HUBBELL.

Witnesses:

E. W. SCHERR, Jr., W. H. LEWIS.

Copiea of this patent may he obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, I). 0.

